Portable electronic devices having interchangeable modules are known generally, as disclosed for example in WO 01/40916 A1 entitle “Modularly Configurable Portable Computing Device”, which includes a portable gaming device having a removable module portion with an input device selected from a group comprising a keypad, a joystick, a pointer, a receiver, a thermal sensor among other input devices.
It is also known generally to upgrade software in appliances and other devices over a network. US 2002/0069213 A1 entitled “Upgrading A Device Over A Network” discloses upgrading software and databases in an appliance from a client by using a script file downloaded to the client from a server. The upgrade of the appliance is controlled by the script file, which includes appliance identification criteria information used to query appliances on the network. In response to the query, the appliances meeting the identification criteria reply to the client with network address information, whereupon the client upgrades the appliance with the upgraded software and database information.
US 2002/0068554 A1 entitled “Method and System Facilitating Web Based Provisioning of Two-Way Mobile Communications Devices” discloses requesting features selected from a user interface of a mobile communications device by sending a provisioning request to a provisioning server. The request includes mobile device features and services selected by the user in addition to credit card and other financial information of the user. In response to the request, the provisioning server sends, to the mobile device, provisioning content in the form of software modules, which modify the resident features of the mobile device, or activation information required to initialize previously installed non-operational applications. In US 2002/0068554 A1, the provisioning communication between the mobile station and the provisioning server is a secured transaction.
The various aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Detailed Description of the Invention with the accompanying drawings described below.